Sequence Tiger Shark as Closed Loop pump?

[Superman]

I have a 220 gallon that currently has a closed loop that is ran by a sequence hammerhead pump. Closed loop is 2" PVC all around, 11 3/4" locline nozzles, hammer head sits on the floor. I am a little disappointed by the amount of flow, I calculate about 400 GPH at each nozzle. I am looking at the Sequence pressure rated pumps, saw the tiger shark, it has a shut off height of 84 feet, the hammer head has a shut off of 22 feet I believe. I am wondering if you think that I am going to blow this closed loop apart with the tiger shark, or if this will be one SWEET closed loop pump option. I appreciate any input Anthony, I followed you over here from Reef Central, I am superedge88 over there. I hope you are doing well.

 

[NaH2O]

Superman - Welcome to Reef Frontiers!!!

Sorry I don't have any insight on the pump you are looking at, but wanted to welcome you to the forum. Here's a bump for you......

 

[Superman]

Thanks for the welcome! I guess that Anthony must not be around right now. If anyone else has thoughts just chime in.

 

[Detri]

Welcome, unfortunately I can't give ytou any feed back either. I am curiuos myself.

 

[jlehigh]

Hey Superman welcome.

It would be very difficult if not impossible to max out 11 3/4" inlets with a pump using a 2" in/out.

A very general rule of thumb would be 2-3/4" pipes can pass roughly the same amount of water as 1-1" pipe. 2-1" pipes can pass roughly the volume of a 1.5" and so on.

I think if you were to install any type of ocelating device spliting the inlets for timed intervals you would be thrilled with the results. Allot of people like the electonic Hayward Ball valves. I use an Ocenas motions...

I have a 280 myself with 14 inlets (12-3/4" and 2-1") being driven by an ampmaster 4700 via an 8way oceans motions. The wavemaker is feeding 4 of the inlets at any one time and each inlet is maxed out. I probably could go with a smaller pump, or feed another inlet...

 

[Superman]

So I could use this pump without any problems eh? Sounds good to me! I guess that I don't put much interest in the alternating/wavemaking devices, I already find that I get a ton of random flow with my closed loop, even though it is not a surging type of flow. When I watch my elegance I can see moments up to 10 seconds where there is no flow ove rit at all, then periods of time ranging from 1 minute to 3 minutes where it is getting a lot of swirling flow. Any thoughts on the noise of the Tiger Shark? This tank sits in my living room/TV room which has wood floors (bad for sound dampening) so keeping things quiet is key. I may try and call MDM (the makers of sequence pumps) and see what they think.

 

[Superman]

Well I got a good answer from RC, As I understand now, there is not enough head pressure in my system to really warrant a pressure rated pump of the same velocity as the hammer head, so I would not really see any difference in the amount of flow. SO now I begin the search for a higher GPH pump that is quiet, low power consumption, low heat transfer, and runs off of 120V (basically the perfect pump I guess)

 

[NaH2O]

Thanks for posting the info up. Be sure to keep us updated on which pump you decide to go with!

 

[Superman]

Betsy from MDM (or was it Beth?) talked to me for quite a while. She really knew her stuff! Basically told me that I would be very unhappy with the noise of the larger pumps I was lookiing at. She ended up wholeheartedly recommending that I simply add on another hammerhead to my exhisting closed loop, split the exhisting closed loop into 2 and have two closed loops with a hammer head on each. This is going to give me some crazy turnover, I can't wait!

 

[Anthony Calfo]

sorry for the delay in reply my friends. I must admit I turned off my e-mail notices for all my forums (Spain, SA, USA, etc) as I have been inundated with e-mail lately It went from flattering to depressing for not being able to keep up with all the BB post announcements

Superman... great to see you here my friend.

I am actually running a Sequence Hammerhead on a closed loop for a 120 gallon tank. It is energy efficient. But it throws a surprising amount of heat. And I must say, I will not use the pump again for a living space installment. Noise. Wow... noise. And I'm not very picky about pump noise either.

But for well over a decade I have been a hardcore Japanese Iwaki fan for durability and quiet running most of all. They are not the most efficient pumps out there... but they are very good.

And for managing many tens of thousands of gallons of water in stores, fishrooms, my Gh, etc. I have used my share of pumps. Cases of pumps

So every year I try new pumps with great promises, and some seem to pan out, but others do not stand the test of time and reveal issues after a couple years and the honeymoon with aquarists wears off

And I always come back to Japanese Iwakis

For me, I am happy to use the Sequence Hammerhead in a fishroom or facility, but not in a living space or confined (under tank/stand) installation. FWIW

 

[Superman]

Thanks for the input Anthony! Do you believe that the noise you are hearing from your hammerhead is not from the vibrations it puts into the floor it is sitting on? I ask this because the hammer head that is currentlly on my closed loop is extremely quiet, though I did put it on mouse pads to make sure it didn't use the floor as a sound amplifier. I'm not ruling out the possibility that I may just be a little hard of hearing though

 

[Anthony Calfo]

good points, mate... but yes - I'm sure. My pump is in felt bumpers that are resting on 1" styro and secured with brass screws/chains. It has reduced resonance to nil IMO. I'm dealing with pump noise alas. No doubt some will be quieter than others. Mine is not. I have a friend with one on a 600 gall that is in fact noisier than mine. I suppose they run a gamut. And yet that is the very thing that draws me to a brand like Iwaki - many years of consistency and reliability. That does not mean Sequence does not have fine pumps (they are at least a good value to me), but mine is noisy... and some folks I've talked to feel the same about theirs. It really does not bother me considering the price/value of the pump though.

 

[Superman]

Sounds like you have it pretty nicely set up so that there is not resonant noise being induced. I agree about the consistancy part, I first had one of the clear blue housing hammerheads, it made a lot of noise, and in taking it apart to try and trouble shoot the noise the housing broke (go figure) MDM totally took care of me and sent out a hammerhead to me before I even sent the broken one back. I got a newer style hammerhead with the black poly/glass housing and it turned out to be MUCH more quiet. So consistancy may definitely be a problem that sequence has, but I am definitely with you in the opinion that they are a great value pump. I'll be getting a couple more hammerheads in to do some testing with, I can't wait to plumb the second one to my closed loop system! On a side note, I am switching out sump pumps and getting a hammerhead for my sump pump. I have a 1" penductor on the return from the sump pump, do you think that hammerhead will run the penductor efficiently? 2" pipe running from sump pump to tank about 5 feet, one 90 degree and a goose neck over the side of the tank. Seems to me that the hammerhead would have JUST enough oomf to run the penductor. Any thoughts?

 

[Anthony Calfo]

I'd have to look at the specs again, but I'm guessing this will work well enough indeed.